The right to govern ourselves

by Steve Merkel

In response to Mr. Conover’s opinion letter [in the July 21 issue] celebrating the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling: The issue is not do you or I approve or disapprove of same-sex “marriage,” the issue is do we have a Constitutional republic or do we have a tyranny – a majority of nine unelected judges making law for 330 million American citizens? Don’t think for one millisecond that because they did it this time, they won’t do it again and again.

In Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, they said in essence, “You peons can’t govern yourselves; we know better than you do. We’ll govern you instead.” The right to govern ourselves is what our forebears shed their blood for! In 1843, 91-year-old Captain Levi Preston, a veteran of the 1775 battle of Lexington, was asked why he fought. Preston replied: “Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had governed ourselves and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should.”

By overturning every state law and every state constitutional amendment protecting marriage, by their usurpation of the very definition of liberty, our right to govern ourselves, this Court has proved itself to be no better than the tyrant King George III, who had also overturned our laws. Our forebears found that intolerable. So they fought, bled, and died for our liberty. Those men gave us a costly gift. Are you going to throw it all away? Are you going to meekly submit to government tyranny? Or worse, celebrate it?